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Anand leads in Linares

The Indian grandmaster is now in the lead, half a point ahead of Vladimir Kramnik. In the third round ahead he meets Gary Kasparov, who had a bye on the second day, yesterday.

All three games provided results with A Shirov of Spain, who lost his first round to Anand, getting on to the scoreboard with a good win over Vasssilyivanchuk, Shirov had black pieces in a Guico-Piano.

Vladimir Kramnik also found successes with black pieces, beating V Topalov of Bulgaria in 48 moves of a queen's gambit declined.

Though the first round of the tournament provided two draws in three games, the second round showed why the Linares tournament is one of the most bitterly fought ones. The toughest battles were in the first round, with every game lasting beyond 50 moves; the second was also hard fought though it didn't last as long.

With an average rating of 2752, it is one of the highest-rated tournaments ever.

Anand was once again the centre of attraction as many feel he deserved to be crowned the World Champion ahead of Anatoly Karpov, who played the championships in Lausanne with the advantage of a big rest. The Indian star played attractive chess against Svindler. Faced with the very rarely played opening of 1.G6 in reply to his own 1.E4, Anand took apart Svidler, who had held Kasparov to a draw in the first round. Svindler went on to use the modern defence.

But having gained an advantage, Anand kept the stranglehold. Svidler finally lost an exchange, giving a major piece for a minor one and Anand was through in 42 moves.

The two wins in a row also puts Anand in a positive frame of mind ahead of his third round clash with Kasparov. This is the first big clash of the tournament in which each player plays the other twice.

The upcoming clashes between Anand and Kasparov, Anand and Kramnik and Kramnik and Kasparov make the coming rounds very interesting.

Ivanchuk and Shirov contested a Giuco Piano with some complex play; Shirov brought about Ivanchuk's demise in a relatively short period that is just 30 moves. It was the shortest game so far. Kramnik was the last to finish when he played the Tartakower variation in the queen's gambit. He had black and, just as the first time control approached, Topalov appeared to err; then, in 48 moves, it was all over and Kramnik grabbed the full point.

In the third round, Anand has black pieces against Topalov, Kramnik has a bye today.

Results (second round): Anand beat Svidler; Topalov lost to Kramnik; Ivanchuk lost to Shirov; Kasparov bye.

Points: 1 V Anand (2/2), V Kramnik (1.5/2), A Shirov (1/2), G Kasparov (0.5/1), V Ivanchuk (0.5/2), P Svidler (0.5/2) and V Topalov (0/1).